NFL MVP voters choose a winner primarily based on regular-season advantage, leaving playoff efficiency ostensibly out of sight.
If New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye tackles his best problem up to now in Sunday’s AFC Divisional conflict with Houston, nonetheless, he’ll have earned different accolades befitting his rising star.
Maye leads the second-seeded Patriots right into a matchup towards the Texans and their elite protection after steering a exceptional turnaround. New England went 14-3 this season, an inverse of its document from 2024, when Maye began 12 video games as a rookie.
Maye brings accuracy, mobility, and assuredness after passing for 268 yards and a landing and gaining 66 yards on the bottom to steer the Patriots to a 16-3 win towards the Los Angeles Chargers within the wild-card spherical.
That type of stat line makes it straightforward to overlook how Maye sputtered towards visiting Houston in his first profession begin final season.
Maye joked that the Week 6 sport “appears like 10 years in the past” however nonetheless recalled “sort of simply making an attempt to remain alive on the market.”
He gamely gained composure, passing for 3 TDs. However there additionally was the matter of these two interceptions and 4 sacks — three by defensive finish Will Anderson Jr. — in a 41-21 defeat.
Danielle Hunter sacked Maye that day, too, and with Anderson Jr. has sparked one of many high edge-rushing tandems within the league. The duo mixed for 27 sacks in the course of the common season for a protection that yielded the fewest yards within the NFL (5,079) and allowed the second-stingiest common factors per sport (17.4).
The expertise of final season however, Maye realizes what the Houston ‘D’ brings to the desk.
“They fly round. They’re relentless,” he mentioned. “They’re nice up entrance, and nice on the again finish. They’ve received nice linebackers. They’re nice all-around. They’ve nice teaching. So we’ve received our palms full, and we all know it’s going to be a troublesome sport.”
Houston acknowledges that Maye is far improved, too, with linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair utilizing a comparability from the kitchen to notice Maye’s tangible increase in confidence.
“That’s anyone with something while you do one thing, you recognize,” Al-Shaair mentioned. “You bake a cake for the primary time, in all probability mess it up, and you then do it once more, do it once more, do it once more, and it seems to be higher, tastes higher subsequent time.”
Given his nimble methods within the pocket and 4.4 yards per carry within the common season, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Maye probably constructed his stature on one thing aside from sweets.
Regardless of the case, the Texans are bracing to face greater than a budding pocket passer.
“These dudes now are large, robust, quick. He’s actually larger than me, stronger than me, in all probability simply as quick,” mentioned Al-Shaair, who’s listed at 6-2, 228. “And this can be a quarterback, you recognize. I’m a linebacker.
“So, I believe you see stuff like that and you then additionally see the power to throw the ball downfield and also you combine that up with the play calling that they’ve and the run sport that they’ve and it simply enhances all the things effectively. That’s why he’s within the place he’s in.”
A victory Sunday would put the Patriots one win away from their first Tremendous Bowl within the publish–Invoice Belichick/Tom Brady period.
That would elevate Maye to legend standing in New England whether or not he takes MVP honors or not.
